U.S. patent number 8,235,927 [Application Number 12/439,942] was granted by the patent office on 2012-08-07 for wrist orthosis.
Invention is credited to Hans B. Bauerfeind, Holger Reinhardt.
United States Patent |
8,235,927 |
Bauerfeind , et al. |
August 7, 2012 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ** |
Wrist orthosis
Abstract
The invention relates to a wrist orthosis with a cuff, which is
open for passage of the thumb and which is provided with
stabilizing rods and with at least one tightening strap for fixing
the orthosis on the wrist. The cuff has two adjacent thumb openings
for receiving either the left or right thumb, wherein a central
stabilizing rod extends between the thumb openings, and a lateral
stabilizing rod extends along the outer side of each said opening
in such a manner that the thumb openings are each located between
the central stabilizing rod and the relevant lateral stabilizing
rod.
Inventors: |
Bauerfeind; Hans B.
(Zeulenroda, DE), Reinhardt; Holger (Kempen,
DE) |
Family
ID: |
38779563 |
Appl.
No.: |
12/439,942 |
Filed: |
August 28, 2007 |
PCT
Filed: |
August 28, 2007 |
PCT No.: |
PCT/EP2007/007532 |
371(c)(1),(2),(4) Date: |
November 06, 2009 |
PCT
Pub. No.: |
WO2008/028588 |
PCT
Pub. Date: |
March 13, 2008 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20100113997 A1 |
May 6, 2010 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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Sep 4, 2006 [DE] |
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10 2006 041 441 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
602/21;
602/20 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A61F
5/0118 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A61F
5/00 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;602/5,20-21,60-61,64
;2/16 ;D24/190-192 ;128/878-879 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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88 06 792 |
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Aug 1988 |
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DE |
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1 382 316 |
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Jan 2004 |
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EP |
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WO-02/17827 |
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Mar 2002 |
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WO |
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Primary Examiner: Bianco; Patricia
Assistant Examiner: Nguyen; Camtu
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Birch, Stewart, Kolasch &
Birch, LLP
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A wrist orthosis including a cuff, the cuff comprising: a first
thumb opening adapted for passage of a right thumb when the
orthosis is on a person's right hand, a second thumb opening
adapted for passage of the left thumb when the orthosis is on a
person's left hand; at least one tensioning band for fixing the
orthosis on the wrist, a central stabilizing rod extending between
said first and second thumb openings, a first lateral stabilizing
rod extending on an outer side of said first thumb opening, and a
second lateral stabilizing rod extending on an outer side of said
second thumb opening; wherein the first thumb opening is disposed
between said central stabilizing rod and said first lateral
stabilizing rod, the second thumb opening is disposed between said
central stabilizing rod and said second lateral stabilizing rod,
and each of said central stabilizing rod and said lateral
stabilizing rods exhibiting a three-dimensional curvature in a
region extending next to and along said thumb openings, wherein the
three-dimensional curvature of the central stabilizing rod
including a narrowed width portion and a relative long spoon-shape
portion having a concave-shaped lower side facing away from a palm
of the left or right hand of the person wearing the orthosis.
2. The wrist orthosis of claim 1, wherein said at least one
tensioning band is guided through eyelets provided on opposite
outer edges of said cuff and includes hook-and-loop fasteners
allowing one end thereof to be attached to the tensioning band
between said eyelets, and the other end thereof to be attached to a
back of said tensioning band.
3. The wrist orthosis of claim 2, wherein ends of said at least one
tensioning band are wider than the eyelets acting as barbed hooks
to prevent any accidental slipping of the at least one tensioning
band through said eyelets.
4. The wrist orthosis of claim 3, wherein said at least one
tensioning band and at least one of said stabilizing rods are
provided with openings.
5. The wrist orthosis of claim 2, wherein said at least one
tensioning band and at least one of said stabilizing rods are
provided with openings.
6. The wrist orthosis of claim 1, wherein said at least one
tensioning band and at least one of said stabilizing rods are
provided with openings.
7. The wrist orthosis of claim 1, wherein said central stabilizing
rod is a single member having a narrow portion between the first
and second thumb holes.
8. The wrist orthosis of claim 1, wherein said at least one
tensioning band is guided through eyelets provided on opposite
outer edges of said cuff and includes hook-and-loop fasteners
allowing one end thereof to be attached to the tensioning band
between said eyelets, and the other end thereof to be attached to a
back of said tensioning band, wherein the opposite outer edges of
the cuff are spaced apart from each other on an upper side of the
person's wrist, when the orthosis is secured around the person's
wrist by the at least one tensioning band which extends between the
eyelets on the opposite outer edges of said cuff.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.119
to PCT/EP Application 2007/007532 filed Aug. 28, 2007 and German
Patent Application No. 10 2006 041 441.1 filed Sep. 4, 2006.
The invention relates to a wrist orthosis with a cuff, which is
open for passage of the thumb and which is provided with
stabilizing rods and with at least one tightening strap for fixing
the orthosis on the wrist, and which also has two adjacent thumb
openings for receiving either the left or right thumb, wherein a
central stabilizing rod extends between the thumb openings and a
lateral stabilizing rod extends along the outer side of each said
opening.
A similar orthosis is disclosed in the PCT document WO 02/17827 A1.
This prior art wrist orthosis is made specifically for either a
right or left hand in each case, for which purpose a corresponding
opening is provided in the cuff of the orthosis for, e.g., the left
thumb. The tightening straps used in this wrist orthosis are bent
back at their ends in the manner of a hook in order to prevent the
tightening straps from unintentionally pulling out of rings secured
to the cuff. Since this design of orthosis is always configured
either for the left or for the right hand in each case, as
mentioned, and the orthosis thus cannot be transferred from the
right hand to the left or vice versa, there was always a need to
have a wrist orthosis available that is directly suitable for both
the left and right wrists. In order to at least partially fulfill
this object, the wrist orthosis evident from the European patent
application EP 1 382 316 A1 was created, in which a relatively
large opening for the thumb is provided in the cuff that makes it
possible to slip the orthosis over the hand and the wrist in either
one lengthwise direction or the opposite lengthwise direction, with
the orthosis being capable of accommodating the left and the right
hand in alternation, this being made possible by the fact that the
opening for the thumb is made large enough that the orthosis can be
drawn onto either the right or left hand. However, this usability
for both the left and right hands presupposes that, in addition to
the appropriately large thumb opening in the orthosis, receptacles
are provided for stabilizing rods, and when the orthosis is being
switched from, e.g., the left to the right hand, the stabilizing
rods have to be inserted in opposite directions in pockets provided
for this purpose. Hence, this means that the orthosis cannot be
used directly for either the left or the right hand, which is to
say it has to be reconfigured accordingly in each case.
The object of the invention is to create a wrist orthosis that can
be used for the right or left hand without reconfiguration. For
this purpose, the orthosis explained above is configured according
to the invention such that the thumb openings are each located
between the central stabilizing rod and the relevant lateral
stabilizing rod, and the stabilizing rods are designed with a
three-dimensional curvature in the region where they extend
adjacent and conforming to the thumb openings.
As a result of the arrangement of two separate thumb openings
located adjacent to one another in the cuff of the orthosis, it is
possible to introduce either the left or the right hand into said
orthosis from the same side without difficulty, with the thumb
entering either one thumb opening or the other in each case. It is
not necessary to exchange or make any changes to the stabilizing
rods, since they are designed such that they work together equally
well in the vicinity of either thumb opening, so that if the wrist
orthosis is initially used for the left hand, it can later be
placed directly on the right hand without making any changes. The
stabilizing rods that come into action in this regard are arranged
in the cuff such that they extend in the same manner to both thumb
openings, so that the orthosis is suitable for use on either a left
or right hand without further ado. This is thus accomplished by the
means that the extent of the stabilizing rods is designed in a
special manner such that a central stabilizing rod extends between
the thumb openings, and a lateral stabilizing rod is provided at
each thumb opening opposite the central stabilizing rod, hence
three stabilizing rods in all, so that each thumb opening is
located between the central stabilizing rod and a lateral
stabilizing rod. In this way, the wrist orthosis can be drawn
directly onto either the left or the right hand without any
modifications to it. In order to prevent the stabilizing rods from
exerting bothersome pressure on any part of the hand, in particular
the thumb, when the wrist orthosis is being worn, the stabilizing
rods are usefully designed with a three-dimensional curvature in
the region where they extend adjacent and conforming to the thumb
openings, by which means the stabilizing rods more or less
encompass the thumb passing through the applicable thumb
opening.
In aid of a symmetrical design of the wrist orthosis and its
tightening straps, they are advantageously designed such that the
tightening straps are passed through rings located at the outer
edge of the cuff, and can be placed on and adhered to themselves by
means of hook-and-loop fasteners with one end on the applicable
tightening strap between the rings and the other end on the back of
this tightening strap, which is to say on the ends of the
tightening straps that are looped around the rings. This
accomplishes the result that the ends of the tightening straps are
raised only slightly from the cuff, and thus do not undesirably
make themselves noticeable when a wrist orthosis is worn.
It is also possible to secure the tightening straps to the rings in
terms of their position, which is accomplished by the means that
the ends of the tightening straps are widened with respect to the
rings such that the widenings act as barbs to prevent unintentional
passage through the rings. As compared to loops at the ends of the
tightening straps, such as are described in the aforementioned
document WO 02/17827 A1, this design has the advantage that it
essentially does not extend beyond the circumference of the applied
wrist orthosis at all, since the widenings act like a barb. The
tightening straps can still be threaded into the rings without
difficulty, however, since they are made of textile material in the
customary manner and can easily be compressed laterally in order to
pass them through the rings.
So that the wrist orthosis cannot cause heat buildup on the wrist
in question, the cuff, the stabilizing rods, and the tightening
straps are provided with openings which ensure that air can
continuously reach the applicable parts of a hand. The figures
depict example embodiments of the invention. Shown are:
FIG. 1 a right wrist with a view of the palm and with the wrist
orthosis in place;
FIGS. 2a and 2b a right hand and a left hand, each with a wrist
orthosis in place, with the stabilizing rods represented;
FIG. 3 the three stabilizing rods from a wrist orthosis, shown
separately;
FIG. 4 a stabilizing rod that runs on the outside next to the
thumb, shown by itself;
FIG. 5 the wrist orthosis removed from the wrist;
FIG. 6 the wrist orthosis in place on a right hand, with a view of
the tightening straps.
FIG. 1 shows a right hand with the wrist orthosis 1 with a
cuff-shaped part 1c, in which the thumb 2 has passed through a
thumb opening 3, and the other thumb opening 4 is unoccupied.
If this wrist orthosis 1 were to be placed on a left hand, then the
left thumb would pass through the thumb opening 4.
FIGS. 2a and 2b show a right hand and a left hand, each of them
wearing the same wrist orthosis 1, wherein the thumb 2 in FIG. 2a
passes through the thumb opening 3, and the thumb opening 4 is
unoccupied.
In FIG. 2b, a left hand is provided with the wrist orthosis 1, with
the thumb 2 passing through the thumb opening 4, while the thumb
opening 3 is left empty.
FIGS. 2a and 2b also show the stabilizing rods 5, 6, and 7 in
dashed lines, since they are accommodated in corresponding pockets
in the fabric of the wrist orthosis 1, and thus are not directly
visible from outside. It is evident from the position in which the
stabilizing rods 5, 6, and 7 are shown that the stabilizing rod 5
extends between the thumb openings 3 and 4 as the central
stabilizing rod, while the lateral stabilizing rods 6 and 7 each
extend along the outside of the wrist orthosis 1 such that each
thumb opening 3 and 4 is laterally encompassed by two stabilizing
rods, namely the thumb opening 3 by the stabilizing rods 5 and 7,
and the thumb opening 4 by the stabilizing rods 5 and 6. This
ensures that, in the region of each of the two thumb opening 3 and
4, two of the stabilizing rods 5, 6, and 7 are on opposite sides of
the thumb 2 extending through either of thumb opening 3 or thumb
opening 4, namely either the stabilizing rods 5 and 7 or the
stabilizing rods 5 and 6. Complete symmetry prevails within the
wrist orthosis 1, which can therefore easily be drawn equally well
onto either the right hand (see FIG. 2a) or the left hand (see FIG.
2b) without the need to make any change to the wrist orthosis
1.
So that no pressure is exerted on the thumb extending through
either of the thumb openings 3, 4 by the stabilizing rods 5, 6, 7,
they are designed to curve where they extend adjacent to the thumb
openings such that they three-dimensionally encompass the thumb. To
this end, reference is made to the region 6s with regard to the
stabilizing rod 6, and to the region 7s with regard to the
stabilizing rod 7, which show when compared that the regions 6s and
7s have a three-dimensional curvature, and thus more or less
encompass the thumb, but are curved in their transverse direction
such that the thumb 2 is more or less enclosed laterally by them.
The same applies to the stabilizing rod 5, which likewise has
curvatures in both the longitudinal and transverse directions in
the relevant region 5s.
The design of the stabilizing rod 5 is also shown in FIG. 4 as a
cross-section along the line IV-IV from FIG. 3, from which it is
evident that stabilizing rod 5 has a narrow region 5n between the
thumb holes 3 and 4, and a relatively long rounding in region 5s
which also forms a sort of spoon 11S near the end of region 5s,
which likewise indicates a three-dimensional curvature. As can be
seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the spoon 11S near the end of region 5s has
a convex-shaped upper side 11cx and concave-shaped lower side 11cc
which faces away from a palm 2P of a left or right hand of the
person wearing the orthosis.
FIG. 5 shows the wrist orthosis 1 after removal, with a direction
of view toward the part of the orthosis that extends over the back
of the hand. The view in FIG. 5 shows the orthosis 1 in a flat,
extended position, with the two thumb openings 3 and 4, as well as
the central stabilizing rod 5 and the lateral stabilizing rods 6
and 7. Attached to one side of the orthosis are the rings 8, 9, and
10, opposite which are the rings 11, 12, and 13 on the opposing
side of the orthosis. The tightening straps 14, 15, and 16, which
are provided at their two ends with the widenings 17, 18, 19 and
20, 21, and 22, are drawn through the rings 11, 12, and 13. These
widenings can be elastically compressed, since the tightening
straps 14, 15, and 16 are made in a known manner from a suitably
compressible textile material. As a result of the use of these
widenings, they each act as barbs, so that they cannot be pulled
out of the relevant rings when the tightening straps 14, 15, and 16
are pulled. Nonetheless, they can be forced through the rings
beforehand without difficulty on account of their flexibility. To
avoid heat buildup on the hand caused by the wearing of the wrist
orthosis, the cuff-shaped part 1c of the orthosis 1 as well as the
tightening straps and the stabilizing rods are provided with
openings; the tightening strap 15 in FIG. 5 is shown with several
of these openings 23, which extend in like manner over the other
aforementioned components of the orthosis (for example, see FIG. 3,
which illustrates openings 5o in central stabilizing rod 5).
FIG. 6 shows a wrist orthosis 1 placed on a right hand, with the
thumb 2 passing through the thumb opening 3, and also shows the
tightening straps 14, 15, and 16, of which the tightening strap 16
is shown in a position prior to attachment to the widening 19. The
arrow pointing away from the widening 22 indicates that, after the
tightening strap 16 is tightened, the widening 22 can be brought to
the back of the opposite side of the tightening strap 16 in the
vicinity of the widening 19, where the widening 22 can then be
attached by its hook-and-loop fastener 25 to a matching
hook-and-loop fastener 25 in the vicinity of the widening 19. The
same applies to the tightening and placement of the tightening
straps 14 and 15, as is clearly evident from FIG. 6. Each of the
three tightening straps 14, 15, and 16 has its end 17, 18, and 19
brought to the appropriate tightening strap between the rings 11,
12, 13 and 8, 9, 10 (see FIG. 5) and attached in this region to the
relevant tightening strap, while the free end of each of the
tightening straps, in the form of the widenings 20, 21, and 22, is
placed on the back of the relevant tightening strap in the
direction of the opposite ring 11, 12, and 13. In this way, the
wrist orthosis 1 is securely fastened to the appropriate wrist. As
can be seen in FIG. 6, the opposite outer edges of the cuff are
spaced apart from each other on an upper side 2U of the person's
wrist, and the orthosis 1 is secured around the person's wrist by
the tightening straps 14, 15, and 16 which extend between the rings
(eyelets) on the opposite outer edges of the cuff.
* * * * *